


Sing All Your Questions to Sleep

by Jicklet



Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Yeah I went and made a songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-11
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-26 09:49:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 693
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12056436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jicklet/pseuds/Jicklet
Summary: Being apart from the love of his life during a war isn’t easy. So he sends Miranda love songs.





	Sing All Your Questions to Sleep

Being apart from the love of his life during a war isn’t easy. Every time he watches her leave from one of their clandestine meetings, he has to come to terms with the fact that it could be the last time he sets eyes on her. But Marco Shepard is the type of person who would much rather laugh than cry.

So he sends Miranda love songs.

Yeah, he stole the idea from his parents. It was something they used to do on the unlucky rotations that they were stationed apart. Neither of them were fantastic singers, but as his dad insisted, if the song was from your heart, it didn’t matter so much.  Hannah was into neo-Jazz, while Peter had a thing for turn-of-the-millenium pop. When they could, they’d record a song and send it to the other one. Sometimes the recipient would add a duet line and send it back. And Marco was still young enough when his dad died that teenage cynicism never got the chance to turn the idea cheesy.

Now, the galaxy’s last hope isn't blessed with an overabundance of off-duty hours to go song-hunting. Instead, Shepard rewrote his omni-tool's music program to respond to subtle sub-vocal commands. Trying to find the perfect song to bring a smile to his girl’s face while directing his team around a battlefield or negotiating with the dalatrass wasn't exactly simple... but he’d always been a good multi-tasker.

> _Something in the way she moves/or looks my way, or calls my name/that seems to leave this troubled ‘verse behind_

Sometimes the songs would be silly.

> _When winter comes in summer/When there's no more forever/ That's when I'll stop lov--(“Wait. Maybe this isn’t the best song during the apocalypse.”)_

The ones sent right after he saw her in person were usually more honest, as the reality of them, together still clung to him.  

> _If I just lay here/Would you lie with me and just forget the world?_

Yet the best help he got came when Tali rejoined the Normandy. The quarian had an eclectic taste in music; similar enough to Shepard’s own but expanded by her nomadic exposure to multiple cultures. They’d had great fun trading recommendations during their mission to take down the Collectors--though it had cooled off when she'd started hinting that she’d like to share more than mix lists with him. But her attention seemed to have shifted lately; he kept walking in on her and Garrus standing closely “just talking” enough to start teasing her about it.  

When he let news of his little side project slip to her, she laughed for a solid minute. Then she grabbed his arm to stop him from leaving the engineering room and promised to send along things he might find inspirational.  She also was also helpful when inspiration swayed him to rewrite a lyric or two to be more personal.

> _'Cause I love your cute buckteeth/And I love the bossy orders that you speak/And any snide remarks from ex-girlfriend about your battlesuit will be ignored/'Cause my heart is yours_
> 
> _(“Shepard, you’re not really going to send that one, are you?”_
> 
> _“.........no.”)_

Miranda’s replies were a lot of her chuckling at him.  She repeatedly told him he was being absurd, but he could hear the smile in her voice, and that was enough for him.

> _Sail your sea/Meet your storm/All I want is to be your harbor_  

After he sent that one, her reply was a day later than usual. Strange for Miranda, who was punctual to a fault. The worry gnawing at him only grew when he started to play the audio file--for the first confusing few seconds, it seemed she’d just sent his song back to him.  

Then he heard the second voice joining his.

> _The light in me/Will guide you home_  

He leaned back in his chair, covering his eyes with a hand, hiding his tears from an empty room.

> _All I want is to be your harbor_  

“Shepard, we are about to land on Horizon.”

> _No matter the distance, I'm holding your hand._  

“...On my way, EDI.”

**Author's Note:**

> Songs in the fic:  
> "Something in the Way She Moves" - James Taylor  
> "That's When I'll Stop Loving You" - NSYNC (a song accidentally about abandoning your love at the end of the world)  
> "Chasing Cars" - Snow Patrol  
> "Ours" - Taylor Swift (butchered)  
> "Harbor" - Vienna Teng
> 
> And, if you want an actual mix: https://8tracks.com/jicklet/stop-smiling-damn-it  
> http://jicklet.tumblr.com/post/85198981552/stop-smiling-damn-it-songs-marco-shepard-sent
> 
> Also if you want to have more Miranda emotions, on YouTube there's a really sweet clip from Chuck of Yvonne Strahovski singing to a baby. ;-;


End file.
